- Ten Metre Fall into a Water Tank
- A man's severed hand falls down a foundation casing
- Builder's miraculous escape from collapsed wall
- The man with seven metal bars in his neck
- Six foot long iron rod impales man
- Man fires six nails into his head
- The woman buried alive under tons of sand
- Delivery Man Killed by falling tape measure
- Man survives a three inch nail embedded in his brain
- Man rescues his own severed arm after driving himself to hospital
The news is full of grisly stories of accidents occurring on building sites. Although construction covers about 5% of jobs in Britain, 27% of fatal injuries and 10% of major non-fatal workplace accidents reported each year are from this sector, and these rates have doubled in the last year in the London area alone.
With SSSTS (Site Supervisor's Training Scheme) training for all staff with supervisory responsibilities, the risks can be minimized and the building site made a much safer place to work. The two day SSSTS course from We Do Training is valid for five years and is assessed and accredited by CITB (The Construction Industry Training Board).
Here are our top 10 freakiest construction site accidents that could have possibly been avoided:
#10 – 10 Metre Fall into a Water Tank, Northern Ireland
A workman fell into an empty water tank underground and had to be treated for potential spinal injuries by paramedics and a specialist Rope Rescue Team in Bangor.
#9 – A man's severed hand falls down a foundation casing, Suffolk
Whilst boring out piles for foundations in a fire damaged factory in Bury St Edmunds, a man's hand is severed and falls eight metres into a foundation casing. It could not be retrieved.
#8 – Builder's miraculous escape from collapsed wall, Lincolnshire
It's not quite a construction site, but this video of Jake Weir demolishing a garage of a private customer went viral in 2013. As a result, he almost lost his left leg but he was lucky not to lose anything else as the wall completely collapses on him.
#7 – The man with seven metal bars in his neck, China
A machine for straightening out metal poles malfunctioned and shot out seven of the poles, each over 30cm long through the neck of the operator, Long Chao in Sichuan, China. He survived, but it was a lengthy procedure to remove the bars.
#6 – Six foot long iron rod impales man, India
Iron rods were being passed up a floor manually when the grisly accident occurred. The worker on the floor above lost their grip and the rod passed through the hip of the man below.
#5 – Man fires six nails into his head, USA
Miraculously, a construction worker in Los Angeles survived after slipping and firing 6 nails into his skull with an automated nail gun. Neurosurgeons worked on the man for five days to fully retrieve the nails safely.
#4 – The woman buried alive under tons of sand, China
A construction worker fell into a deep pit which then filled up with sand. She was dug out unharmed but shocked over 30 minutes later and was only saved by the air pocket created by her hard hat.
#3 – Delivery Man Killed by falling tape measure, USA
A man making a delivery of sheet rock to a luxury apartment building site in Jersey City was killed when a retractable tape measure fell off the belt off a worker 50 floors up and hit him in the head. Safety net measures are now being considered.
#2 – Man survives a three inch nail embedded in his brain, USA
Incredibly, Jeff Lupak felt no pain and went on to have the nail successfully removed. The accident occurred in Bismarck, North Dakota when his colleague passed him a 16 gauge nail gun and it went off in his hand.
#1 – Man rescues his own severed arm after driving himself to hospital, Austria
A man's arm was successfully reattached after driving himself to hospital in a state of shock. It was severed below the elbow when he was cleaning a machine that processed construction rubble.
